


One Way Or Another

by LostInQueue



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ben’s misunderstood and so is Rey, Body Swap, F/M, Freaky Friday - Freeform, Laser Tag, Leap of Faith, Light Angst, Modern AU, being worth it to someone, learning each other, mentions of oral, mostly fluff and humor, movies with mom, so many feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-11-09 05:35:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20848358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostInQueue/pseuds/LostInQueue





	1. The Price of Pushing You Away

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shewhospeakswiththunder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shewhospeakswiththunder/gifts).

[](https://ibb.co/zQwqkc4)

Rey Jonson and Ben Solo have been working at the very last known laser tag facility, Rebel Order, since high school. Every year they pushed each other’s buttons over work. Whether it was about making changes to the arena itself, to refacing the gear with new skins, or in the arena itself, they found themselves fighting with the other all throughout the night. The trouble was, they also contributed as the hero players during games, that is, until this year. 

This year everything changed in honor of their favorite movie series. Rebel Order had been sponsored by a few shops in the area to put on a Star Wars-esque battle. Which not onlymeant tons of research, but more time with each other. 

Now Rey didn’t have it so bad, Ben was quite the eye candy, but his attitude could really improve. It seemed to be on the constant decline as of late which had her wondering what she was doing wrong. Rey always kept the grounds tidy, tried her best not to make a scene when she won games, and certainly took into account to take it easy on the onion rings and other fried snacks in the cafeteria.

“Leave some for the customers,” Ben ranted the last time he found her behind the counter with Rose. 

She’d tease him about his request, doing her best to either gross him out or turn him on with yet another food devouring gesture. Note to self, licking he finger clean of nacho sauce made him sneer.  _Remember that one for the next time she has to retaliate without words..._

Rey knew her manners were lacking, but in her defense, their lot was catering to tweens and up who didn’t care about that. The majority of them were interested in the games they were winning, loot they were hoarding or the occasional couple trying their luck in a darkened crevasse. While she didn’t blame them, as some of them had been made to fit with a certain someone, they certainly couldn’t be found allowing such activities taking place there. That would have them shut down and it wouldn’t be for the best. Laser tag is Rey’s favorite game in the whole world. Losing this place would mean losing everything she loved, including Ben Solo.

Where would he go if they didn’t have this together? Not that they were together. Ben had been nice but weird to her over the years. The combination was odd enough to start considering that the guy was just not into her. Not the way that she hoped at least. But this new revamp was just around the corner. Maybe she could get him to see the light in her ways and give “them” a try.

“So, the notes I have on this is to watch the movies and change the park to look like it. There’s so much content, Rey. How are we going to incorporate it all?” Ben asks.

“Use the force…” Rey smirked, rolling her Sith holocron replica she paid half her paycheck for between her hands.

She loved that thing. Not only because it was red and glowed red, but she could store some of her favorite things in it. Knowledge, like the Rebels show said... if she could only get him to really look at it he’d know how cool it was. 

“You cant use that,” he said, then took it from her. “You’re not a Sith.”

_Oh he has it now! Maybe he’ll look this time, he thought._

“Of course I can, and I don’t need to be a Sith to find such knowledge,” Rey said oozing with mirth. 

Rey knew in all of her fandom research, forums, clubs and cosplay expos, that she sided with good and justified roles of the force but still had a little dark side of her own. Maybe she did have a little Sith in her. Maybe that’s why she liked to get a rise out of Ben Solo.... What was so bad about that? She couldn’t be an angel all the time. Angels didn’t get to test the slurpee machines or give mix and matched flavors to her friends. At that comparison she was sure Jedi didn’t either. Not that they were or could be considered heavenly beings but surely, they wouldn’t be going around coupling snacks and drinks off to their friends for their simple enjoyment. So she allowed the thought that she could be half bad - in a good way.

Ben eyed her skeptically, his usual brooding had been put to the side for this.

“Oh really? And what exactly do you think you can find out from a toy?” Ben snorted.

“I could find out plenty with this,” she said. “Maybe it would tell me why you’re such a jerk sometimes.”

Okay that came out wrong, but he’s acting twelve, playing keep away with her thing.

All he had to do was give it back like he usually did but this time he was all for teasing her.

Tonight he held it above her head, setting it low and jerking it high every time she lunged in to grab it.

“What the fuck, Ben? What is your problem?” Rey stomped on his overgrown foot, hoping he would just give it back.

Ben cursed and threw it hard against the wall across from them making what he thought was plastic, shatter. The triangular glass plates flew on impact and Rey teared up as the light inside it flickered and went out.

“You really hate me don’t you, Ben? Admit it… you know what,” Rey halted him with her hand before starting again, “you already did… do. You’ve proved it so many times that I just! I just don’t need it anymore!”

Ben looked at her, dumbfounded. He actually looked surprised beyond belief that she snapped at him, “You have no idea how I feel!” he shouted trying to regain some ground.

Okay throwing the trinket really didn’t help justify his feelings on this, and probably hurt them more, but he found himself continuing right away.

“You know what I don’t need? I don’t need your constant eyerolling at everything I do! I don’t need you to tell me anything. You don’t even know me.”

“And you think you don’t do the same? Mr. Perfect Mr. I don’t need anyone in my life. Mr. I like to push people out. You think you’re so alone… no one understands you…  _really?! I don’t know you, I don’t know you? Really? _ We’ve worked closely together for years Ben, years!  _And I don’t know you_. _I don’t know a thing about you right?_ ” Rey said shoving her way back to where he threw her holocron.

Both Ben and Rey grumbled their final words of the night, “you know nothing...”

——

(Rey)

Rey’s dreams swirled with memories, all the things she wanted to forget and boy did it do a number on her! The migraine she woke with had been blinding to a degree. Not being one to drink on a week night made it impossible to her to understand why now, on a Thursday, she was experiencing such things. Her body ached as if she had gotten hit by a truck, or at least it seemed that way until she struggled to lift her hand high enough to reach her face. There was nothing gentle about what had happened next.

She straight up punched herself in the face with the force it took to move herself. 

“What the fuck?!” she yelled at the top of her lungs. The moment those three words barreled out of her, Rey scrambled away from the sound, perching herself on her pillow. Her voice, it... it sounded an awful lot like Ben Solo’s...

_Why would he be here?_

“Ben?” she squeaked, sounding again like him, “Ben it’s not funny,” Rey tried to feel authoritative but for the third time and with word, she noticed, her voice was nowhere to be found.

Rey huffed a sigh, turning to her side to look for her phone. It was then when she saw it. The huge right hand she was guiding to a night stand that... isn’t... hers, the very one that she punched herself in the face with happened to be  attached to her?!

Rey screamed, scrambled far enough to fall off of her bed, but found herself still moving on a bed.

_What the fuck?_

_Where the fuck?_

A rapping at the door startles her out of her panic, giving into whoever happened to be on the other side of it time to speak. Maybe they would know what was happening.

“ Yeah ?” she answered, Ben’s voice sounded again.

“Honey, are you okay?” a woman’s voice asked.

_That wasn’t just any woman, that was Leia. Leia as in Ben’s mom._

“Benny?” she asked as if she was asking for entry.

“Yeah? I mean. I’m okay. I mean... I’m...” she tried to sound as comfortable in her...his skin as she could.

“Are you sure? You don’t sound like yourself.”

“I’m fine... I think?”

In all her life she hadn’t been so afraid of the door opening and she had reason to fear it at her house. It was exactly why she took on the hours she did and why she had tried so hard to keep what little friends she had. Being out meant she could be happy. Home? Not so much. But at least she could handle them to a degree. Here? In a home that clearly had love and she had seen the way Leia would fawn over Ben at times had her so nervous. The last thing she wanted to do was clobber this woman as she did herself just before.

And in she came.

This...this isn’t really happening, Rey blinked rapidly trying to find the secret code to getting out of this nightmare. Except there wasn’t one. There was just Ben’s mom staring at her... him, and the only thing that came to her mind was,  _whether or not he was wearing clothes._

Leia’s kind eyes settled over her making Rey feel a little more at ease, despite the confusion she’d been facing so far.

“You look pale,” Leia said smiling at herself. “I mean you’re always pale, but you seem lighter. Like you’ve seen a ghost... or your uncle in the morning....” Rey found it hard not to laugh at that. Ben’s uncle Luke was an oddball most of the time. He’d show up every once in a while to play laser tag and one up the anyone he could at ski ball. Otherwise the man ate, well, like her... the thought of it made her skin crawl. Maybe that’s why Ben hated it when she did it.

Ben’s mom,  _bless that woman_ , spent all morning trying to help her, well him, feel better so Rey told her exactly what happened. Well, to a point. No one needed to tell Leia anything about  _this_ . Not her, not him, not some lunatic from some other galaxy... Leia just didn’t deserve to have to put the only person she cared for more than herself in a loony bin because of it. No, Rey would figure this out on her own.

“Well, thanks for listening, Mom,” Rey tried the word even though it made her skin crawl. Not that Leia wasn’t his mom, and shouldn’t be called such a thing, but Rey had been to a point in her relationships at home where she stopped calling her parents ‘mom’ and ‘dad’.

Leia’s eyes glistened much like her own in her usual circumstances, making Rey wonder how many times Ben avoided these interactions. Was it this bad with him and his father? Could she change this for him? Give him something she could never achieve with her own family? Especially since it was pretty much already here...

Rey nodded at herself, promising she could do this. She could make his change... give him a happy ending, even if it wasn’t for her.

But first, she had to get out of bed and ready for her—his day.

Rey really needed to hand it to Ben. Being his size was not an easy thing to work with. Getting off his bed was hard enough, let alone trying to stand... gods... moving made her feel like a mouse in a baby giraffe’s body. Somehow it’s then when she begins to wonder if everyone switched bodies with someone else or if it was just her... 

_Wait... if she switched... where is his consciousness?_

Rey scrambled around his room looking for his phone, ultimately stepping on the damned thing and cracking the screen.

“_Fuck_...”  she mutters , “_just one more thing to fix!”_

——

(Ben)

Ben’s dreams usually stemmed from the thingshe thought the people closest to him weren’t telling him. Like that time he spotted gauze taped to Rey’s back through the sheer fabric of her oversized t-shirt. She said it was nothing and changed the subject... then there was another time when she couldnt hear out of one ear, or the burns she tried caring for in the staff room... or the countless times she’d order an extra large sweatshirt so she could hide in it in the every other season except for summer... but it wasn’t just her. Ben worried about everyone. He hated the way his parents fought, or how much of a jerk uncle Luke could be, but most of all he couldn’t figure out where his life was going.

Working at Rebel Order was fun, okay, that much was true. And he’s sure that he would have gone off to bigger and better things each season, but the thought of leaving Rey hurt in a way he couldn’t quite describe. She wasn’t his, that much he knew was true. In fact, he was positive that the girl hated him. But not being with her put a terrible ache in his heart.

Ben rolled from his back to his stomach frowning at the immediate pressure in his chest. It was weird enough to turn abruptly back to his back to check what had happened to him. His hands flew to the pinching pain there finding two petite mounds that felt odd in his dainty hands?

_Wait a minute._

_Why am I wet? he panics._

_Where’s my...?_

Ben’s eyes snapped open finding the sight of Rey’s body instead of his. His hands flew to where his member should be finding it gone. 

_She didn’t cut it off... she didn’t... she wouldn’t... would she? Is that blood?_

_Where is it? _

Ben’s hands were tiny and the sight of them stirred him up just as much as searching the sheets for his dismembered member... nothing! There was nothing! Until her tiny fingertips found a velvety... hard... shaft. 

_This is not real_ , he chanted trying to coax himself out of his panic attack. He screwed his eyes shut, wrapping his hand around his poor unit to pull it from the sheets.

_Why would she do this to him?_

It was just some weird dream. Nothing to be freaked out about. 

_Just a dream. _

_It’s just a dream..._

Oh my gods she did! She cut his dick off! He cried. 

Ben was a lot of things, an asshole to many, but not a crybaby. This morning changed him completely. Tears fell uncontrollably at the thought of the loss of his penis. How was he going to pee now? Why did he automatically turn into a woman? And why couldn’t he just die already?

Ben examines his poor appendage, confused by the name tattooed on the base, “Big Ben”. 

Ben’s eyebrows lifted high off of his face with shock. 

_How many guys has she done this to to have to name his penis?_

A cool shiver passed down his spine, promising him he shouldn’t ask such questions. Instead he cradled his member like a puppy hoping it would magically reattach some how.

As he settled back into his pillow, he’d caught a glimpse of himself in the reflection of a standing mirror. First it was his form that startled him. He’d seen it before to a degree, but thought the dream had dissipated to some degree. 

He was wrong. 

Ben played with the reflection for what felt like an hour or so, opening and closing his eyes to see what the being in the mirror would do.

It was just too weird. Never in his wildest dreams did he want to be a woman, let alone Rey. Sure, he wanted to know what Rey was really thinking but never succeeded at finding out. She always seemed to shy away from him and honestly, in this moment, he really needed her to get out of his mind. Maybe then this would stop. Maybe then he could go back to being normal Ben Solo who isn’t trapped inside an alternate universe somewhere.

Besides the mirror, the room he was in was small, far smaller than his, the bed had been a twin and he was sure when he sat up she would fall off of it. Maybe they hooked up. Maybe... maybe... no matter what way he tried to put it, sitting up showed none of his body. Only hers... all the way down to her painted toenails, which, Ben never knew she did. She seemed too much like him to care about that stuff. It positioned his thought that all girls did it.

Ben shook his head and the feel of Rey’s hair tumbling over her shoulders was divine. He wondered constantly why she never had it down. It was so soft despite smelling like Rebel Order.

Maybe he could fix that, Ben frowned at the thought of his penis in his arm. Maybe if he was nice to her maybe she would put his unit back where it belonged. 

Ben did think of himself as a hair expert, after all. His was always masterfully wavy and shiny. Maybe she would like that too.

He scanned the room for a towel, tried walking over to it with her tiny feet, which was a task, going from knowing he’d be sturdy on his, to feeling like he’d been stepping around her room on her tip toes. Ben cringed at the thought of heels and again thanked the gods that Rey was not that type of girl.

He knew enough about wardrobes given his mother liked to shop, but personally wearing her garb was nothing he dreamed about. In fact, the idea of getting dressed was frightening, almost as much as taking a shower.

He cringed at the thought of putting on a bra. Couldn’t he just wear an undershirt? Isn’t that the point of tank tops?

If she was here she would make him leave, slap him maybe, just at the thought of getting clean despite being connected to her like this. But she wasn’t… and from the smell of her, she needed this. Never mind how badly her body ached, which, why was that again? He tried to think back to what yesterday brought in terms of working. They did breakdown a lot of the field to make it a little more playable, but those pieces aren’t hard to move. The only other thing he could think of was the times she asked for Advil after she’d been upset. Advil, just the name of the pain reliever had been enough to loosen her body up a little. Had she been crying?

_Fuck_ , he groaned inwardly. Of course she had been crying. The evidence had been left in her pillow while some clumps of her mascara still stuck in her eyelashes like tar.

_Gross_ .

Ben decided it was now or never. Time to take care of this girl from the outside in.

Shower… he reminded himself. Finding the bathroom in an oddly quiet home that he knew nothing about was fighting. In fact, he was pretty sure her guardians weren’t exactly that and part of knowing it made him more on edge. This shower would be an in and out sort of event so that he didnt have the chance of crossing paths with whoever they were, they wouldn’t catch him.

Ben did his best not to look, keeping his eyes pointed toward the ceiling when he finally found the bathroom. He was thankful to see how small even that was so that he could resist the urge to stare at her in the bust sized mirror.

Ben practically chanted “privacy” until that was all he could hear.

It was, that is, until someone busted through the bathroom door.

“Rose!” he shouted, screeching more like Rey would.

“Where have you been?! You were supposed to be out of the house two hours ago. Rey if they find you here—what are you thinking?”

Ben couldn’t fathom why Rose was here, why she wasn’t bothered by the fact that her friend was partially naked and waiting for the water to warm up, but then in cane two more girls he’d never seen before.

“What? I need a shower. I stink.” Ben tried to claim, repulsed by the way Rose sniffed at her.

“Get dressed, we’ll go to the Y. I’ll cover for you but you need to jump out the window to get around safely,” Rose stated, alarmed at the heavy foot steps coming toward the bathroom.

The other girls that had been there scattered while Rose’s lips tightened into a pucker, challenging the space before her. There was clearly something wrong here.

It’s then when it hit Ben, Rey didn’t live in a normal home with parents, not even one as damaged as his was. She lived in a group home. It made sense now. It was why she refused to talk about home. Why she seemed to be so happy to be at work. Sometimes he wondered if it was because she liked to see him too, but now it was clear. The further away from home she was, the better her life would be.

Rose seemed well adjusted, ready to go toe to toe with anyone that came by, but the other two were out of sight in a flash. He could only hope that they would be alright too.

Redressing to the best of his abilities, Ben rushed around Rey’s room, stopping to grab her phone, before trying to get himself out her window. That was terrifying too. Ben found himself sliding off the slanted roof into a sea of pine trees, hoping this wasn’t why Rey came to work every day looking like she’d been to war.

He remembered the Y, which was across town from where she was. That wasn’t going to fly.  He was _not_ walking either . Ben knew she had no means of transportation and that would take her at least half the day to go do and get back only to be late for work. So, he set off to get back to his house. His parents liked Rey. They would do  anything for Rey … they even wanted to set the two of them up over the years, which was part of the reason why he’d been so closed off to her.

He shook the memories of that from his mind. No need live that embarrassment all over again. 

There was enough happening right now. 

How do women deal with boobs?  he complained.

Ben assumed that if it ever did happen, his parents would take up any reason to make fun of him or bring up embarrassing moments of trying to win her over past just dating him. Rey, while she knew a lot, didn’t know all of it, and that was how it needed to stay, that is... unless he could tell her how he really felt about her without his parents meddling. The thought crossed his mind that maybe he still could, it all depended on if this was real and if they could switch back. He would show her who she could be to him. He could give her a place to be…a reason to want to be.

Ten minutes later he’s at his front door, disheveled as ever, sticks and the dried sap in her hair made him cringe. Had the scenario been different, comparing her to one of the scarecrows his mother decorated with each fall would have been an obvious go. Not so much now, Ben swallowed at the thought.

Being there at his doorstep made him feel at home. It no longer was a source for discomfort or embarrassment, it was his mom’s way of telling him and his family that they’re was love here. For the first time in his life, Ben felt secure.

Not even pressing the doorbell signaling his mother’s nerdism while the bell chimed the first few notes to the Star Wars theme music loudly throughout the house stirred him. It brought back memories of who she was before he started pushing her away. It reminded him of the life he had, and for the first time in years, hoped he could have it back now.

Ben couldn’t believe who answered. His mother called from behind the person that stood in the doorway that she’d pause the movie, while Ben, his body at least, stared back at him, wide-eyed and a little mortified.

“Uh, hi,” Ben said trying desperately hard not to itch her head. “Is it okay I use your shower?”

Ben’s eyes continued to bore holes in his head. It was freaky to say the least, but when his form finally nodded relief set in.

“Are you hurt?” Ben’s voice seemed deeper to him even though he could hear it in his head before he spoke as Rey.

Ben shook Rey’s head slightly, pine needles dropped on the floor and Ben was the first to pick them up. It was weird to see him fawn over him, but he supposed it was sort of nice to be taken care of which made him wonder how often he was before this whole ordeal.

“No, I slid, um…” Rey's voice squeaked. He hadn't meant to sound like that but, gods, when his mother peaked around the corner he couldnt help but feel shy all of a sudden. 

Ben's form bent to Rey's ear and asked, "Were you shoved or did you jump?" His voice was incredibly low, more so than the first time, as if it was begging him not to make a scene. Was this Rey trapped within his own body? His eyes blinked slow enough to which Ben felt his lashes touch Rey’s cheek, not once but twice, and he knew it was her. 

It was their code. 

"I went willingly," Ben lurched forward, holding tight to his form, which was weird. Nothing about it felt right physically, but Rey was in there. Rey knew. She wouldn’t think he was weird or... or... Ben’s thoughts derailed at the feel of his hand taking hers and guiding him on in her form to be with his mother. 

“I’ll put out some snacks,” he heard himself say and pointed to the box of crap they had lined up on the counter. Rey had nearly every cheesy snack including individually sliced cheese cake available to the party of two’s movie morning. It was a disgusting display to him - he who lived off of granola and fruit smoothies wanted to gag but couldn’t help the itch. Something about little tacos made her -his mouth water. 

“Why don’t you head up with my mom, and she’ll help you get the sap out of your hair?”

Leia jumped right into action asking tons of questions about why she’d been in the tree in the first place. Ben struggled against wanting to call her mom, but continued with his plan to set this right. Rey needed a way out and he was going to give her one. 

He knew, technically, he should have his own place by now, but paying for school and a car and insurance really nailed him in terms of cash, so he couldn’t just offer a room with him in an apartment he didn’t have but he could offer his room or office or switch his room to the office and give her a nice place to live. But what would his mom say? What did she need to hear? 

“Rey?” His mother said softly to her, “C’mon. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

——

(Rey)

All thoughts came to an abrupt halt when she realized what she offered herself-Ben. A shower meant he’d  see her... if he hadn’t already... and what would he think? Would he care? Would  do something to her? 

Rey  respected him. Comfortably wearing jeans was hard enough. That lump of meat of a unit was distracting to say the least, and  gods , she thought her bladder was small! If Ben’s body so much as swallowed spit it urged her on to the bathroom, post haste. Dropping his pants had been a damned hula dance, while she tried desperately hard not to catch the huge thing on his zipper each time. 

The item she didn’t show the same respect to was his phone’s browser. There she looked for assistance with every penile problem she’d been having since this damned day started. Everything from morning wood to hard on’s, what caused them, how to handle it...without masturbating, how to deal with the swell as it came on, when to finally feel relieved, and how to keep her mind off of it unless she really needed the tower to rise again. Which was never! All of that would be revealed at another time, but for now, her mind went straight to where Ben was. 

She found herself eavesdropping on the two of them which, okay, is wrong, and probably would look awful being that she controlled Ben’s body and all. So...how would she get the information she needed? 

It wasn’t long before she devised a plan. All the while, Rey listened to the way Leia promised she wasn’t looking.

“Were both women. It’s not like I don’t have them myself,” Rey cringed and so did Ben’s face. 

Ben must be dying , she thought. A creeping smile formed at her lips. 

“Did you get soap in your eye?” the older woman asked.

“No,” Rey heard herself reply. 

“You need to open your eyes, dear. You’re going to fall.”

“I’m okay, really.”

“Rey, you can’t surprise me. I was twenty one forty seven times,” Rey snorted at that. “Having Ben and gravity has been giving in terms of being bigger, but...”

“Gods...” Rey’s voice whined from behind the door followed by his mother’s laughter. 

It was now or never. Save him, or save herself... the hypothetical coin toss wasn’t helping either. Rey found herself knocking with Ben’s huge fist, and gods the sight of it had her sweating out the pitching of another tent today. 

Breathe, just breathe...

“Mom?” Ben’s deep voice sounded again. “I have towels and dad called...”

“Oh! I missed it. Thanks, Benny. Did he leave a message? Or was it just a number to where he’s staying?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t listen to it...”

“Can’t deal with your father’s loving ways? You know you could stand to listen to some of it. ‘It could teach you a thing or two about talking to women.” 

Ben cringed. Yikes...

“It would...” Leia winked at Rey even though Ben had her eyes shut tight. “Rey could stand to be treated like she mattered to you, like you say.”

All but the water running from the shower head had been heard battering the tub floor until Leia finally excused herself. 

——

(Ben)

“Um,” Rey’s voice finally filled the uncomfortable silence. “Do you think you could come make sure I didn’t miss anything?”

When Rey didn’t respond right away, her voice continued. 

“I just figured you could fix this, because it’s you, and you’d be taking care of yourself... so I don’t have to.”

While her sigh was low, even for his, Ben still heard the way she reacted, never once thinking he’d rejected her, but man did that sigh sound like it. It sounded like all the times he let her down too, which was odd being that he could access her memories just like that. He’d watched in real time as they were flicked up to his foresight completely unaware of whether or not Rey said anything at all. He could feel the hurt attached to it like he was just extinguishing the little light inside her. 

“I don’t mean it like that,” her voice whispered. “It’s all just so weird and I don’t want to see you or touch you in a way you obviously don’t want me to.” Ben lied on the addition of how obvious it was because it was clearly the opposite. Rey had been genuinely good to him, made him want to be good to her, but the thought of breaking character scared him. 

Now with things as they are with no change in sight, Ben stammered through his words, “I was just trying to be good... to you... you deserve that.”

“Thank you,” he heard his former voice mutter.His fingers deftly worked conditioner through Rey’s hair. It was nice. Ben felt himself turning to mush and Rey’s head pushing back to him for more pressure... or more of that sensation, that care. Ben liked that and wondered if she’d do it to him if they ever switched back. 

“What did you hit when you jumped?” she asked. 

“Just the spiny stuff on the ground. And when I got up I ran to the fence and hopped it. ‘Must have been where I got mucked up in the low hanging branches,” he replied. 

After a beat, she followed up asking if he fell weird or needed anything rubbed out. The words she choose would have betrayed his body. Thankfully he didn’t have that problem anymore, he could think clearly and give an honest answer, what a concept? 

“No, I’m good. I’d still be on the ground if I hurt myself,” he chuckled, moving back towards the water as she guided him. “Um, Rey?” 

“Yeah?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What’s there to tell?”

“You’re doing it again. You’re... you’re keeping me out.  Let go.  Why are you still there? You’re old enough to age out.”

The sound of Rey humming as Ben made his skin crawl all over again. 

“I did.”

“So whey haven’t you gone anywhere?”

“I’m not the only one, Ben. And until the other girls are placed in a home I can trust, I’ll be going back. Which...  gods . You won’t know how to react,” he whispered.

He couldn’t help but suggest having them stay under his roof. The issue soon became more about how to accomplish it rather than whether or not she could trust him. 

It wasn’t long before he’d gotten out, to wrap his towel around her waist as he usually would himself, when Rey coughed her suggestion to him. It’s then when he sees her body, minus where he’d wrapped her in. Her exposed chest glistened while remaining droplets of water rushed off of her there. Her dusty rose colored nipples had been hard to look away from once he’d finally seen them. 

If he looked way, he’d have seen the way Rey stared at him, but he’d been glued in place. “I have a confession,” he swallowed, trying to blink himself out of this trance. “I grabbed these this morning.”

“You what?”

“And lower...”

“Why?!”

“Well, I rolled to my stomach like I always do and felt pain here, and wet there, and I sincerely believed I was bleeding out.”

“What?!”

“I didn’t like,  touch you, touch you... I just, I thought my thing got cut off and I panicked,  okay ?”

“Who has ever said they’d do that to you? One, and two, you’d probably already be dead if you were asleep during such a thing. Did the idea of no pain not register?”

Ben groaned and tipped Rey’s head up to the ceiling. 

“I knew I shouldn’t have told you.”

“No, no. You did the right thing,” she still laughed. At least she was, he thought. “How’d you touch me?” Her voice dropped nearly to a whisper, the point of the crotch in his pants seemed evident she wasn’t perturbed by it. 

“Just the outside,” he whispered, asking with just the motion of his hand if it was okay to undo the folded knot in his towel. 

Looking at himself ever so interested in him-Rey had been weird but sort of hot learning how interested she really was in him. It begged the question of whether or not she was interested in him or being touched...

Ben let the towel pool around her feet, cautiously dropping her hand to her sex. “All, I did,” he croaked, “was,” Ben happened to find her folds, pressing the heel of his palm against her nub, before pulling her middle finger through her folds. He moved it gently away from her the moment the pad of his finger swiped past her clit, too. “It didn’t smell like blood, so I kinda just let it air out. Like a... wait what did you do? This morning? When you realized you weren’t  you .”

“I’ve seen a penis before, Ben. But you may want to delete the history on your phone before it starts sending you erectile disfunction magazines curtesy of the research it’s endured.”

“Do you didn’t touch me?” he sounded disappointed. 

“No, I got to do something far more interesting,” she said, picking up the towel he had to wrap it appropriately around her - Ben. 

“And what was that?”

“Talked to your mom.”

“You picked talking to my mom over exploring me?” he lifted Rey’s right eyebrow to challenge her.

“Are you hearing yourself?”

“Yeah? I’m the one speaking aren’t I?” 

“There are more pressing things than playing with a dick that isn’t affecting you. Besides... I like you for you for you girth.”

“Wait.. you never said you liked me.”

Rey rolled Ben’s eyes and headed back to the door, unintentionally guiding him to food. “You should eat something.”

“Why?”

“You get a little dumb when you don’t.”

“Excuse me?” Ben threw his hip to the side. 

“Oh gods, you’re starting...” she said trying to stuff a tiny taco in her mouth. 

“ Starting ?”

“Look, you’re not you when you’re hungry, and I hate to tell you this but my body is two days away from my period. It could come now, or in two days, but if I don’t eat like an entire football team, this might actually kill you.” 

The next thing he knew, she was wearing his mother’s clothes, and sports bra she said she only wore when she was being lazy. The thought made his skin crawl so bad he shook every so often, repeating “ew, ew, ew!” like a five year old child.

——

(Ben)

Eating Rey’s snacks wound up being better than he thought. They sat and compared notes on their findings, things they could do easily with the space and other project ideas that would surely take up a fair amount of time but could totally bring the crowds in. Ben had to hand it to his mother, and nudged his form - Rey to ask if his mother would like to physically contribute. 

“Uh, do you want in on the project, mom?” Rey asked making the room fall incredibly silent.

The end credits rolled and the music played for a  New Hope , before she answered.

“Benny, you never ask for help. Are you sure you know what you’re asking for?”

“Yeah, mom. I just thought if we had another set of eyes on it, we could make this really great—I mean if you don’t want to, I get it...”

“Oh! Oh no, I would not pass up the opportunity to be involved. If this is truly what you want,” Leia said, “let’s make it happen.”

“It is.” Rey made Ben softly reply with a smile.

Ben, however, was dying inside. One he had to try really hard to mask because Rey’s face was always just so telling. 

“Well, I think we need to be off to work,” her voice caught uncomfortably in her throat several times before finally suggesting it. What did she think she was doing?

“Right, work...” Leia followed. “Can you get me measurements for the arena when you’re there? I have some ideas already.”

“Great, mom, thanks!” Rey made Ben shoot up to his full height to hug his mom, despite the surprise on Ben made Rey deliver. 

“Yep! Thanks!” he followed in Rey’s sweet voice, taking a plate of mini tacos to go. 

“For everything...” 


	2. Chapter 2

(Rey)

Its hard enough being a giant and getting around everywhere for Rey, that she curses at many of her quick movements, knocking over things as she goes. But nothing could prepare her for driving. That was not going to happen. She ‘noped’ her way right out of the task, turning to Ben to shove his keys in her hands.

“I need you to drive but I… I mean you don’t have your license as me. What are we going to do? I can’t drive…” Rey panics, running his fingers through his hair. Rey happens to stop all forward thinking remembering how badly she wanted to do such a thing, and now that she could, she didn’t stop. Everything that made her think had her running her fingers through it, wondering what shampoo he used, and if the man ever tried conditioner, or if it was just a natural thing.

Hair so perfect could not be natural, she thought.

Ben frowned at this trying to get an idea as to what she was doing, being that she closed her eyes and smiled every single time had him wondering to say the least.

“It’s fine. I had the same, well, not the same-same thing happen with Poe. You know he’s six weeks younger than me? Well, I had this massive headache and I asked him to drive me home. Well he’s an idiot and ran over cones on purpose. Got us pulled over and I had to explain that he was taking me home because I was not capable of doing so myself.”

“And what happened to Poe?” she asked, his deep voice skeptically high.

“He was told drive the right way or they’d suspend his permit.”

Rey bent Ben’s brow again in thought, saying, “But I don’t have mine. I don’t have anything.”

“Rey,” Ben touched his arm with her hand, still totally weirded out by the fact that this was real. “I’ve got you. I’m a great driver. We aren’t going to get pulled over.

True to his word, Ben was a great driver. He took extra time with her height disadvantage, that much was true, but they got to the store without hitting anything or anyone.

“We have ten minutes,” he called, her voice straining as Rey made his huge frame jump out of the car.

“It’s enough time! I have to get some things or you’re going to have the saddest night of your life.”

“Me??” Ben couldn’t help but roll his eyes at how he sounded. He did, in fact, watch enough sitcoms to hate a certain way of speaking. The nasally, often times, whiny characters that would make their way into the inner core of his nerves was exactly how he felt he sounded every time he lifted his voice. So he stopped. Ben wondered if that was why Rey was quiet. Maybe she didn’t like the way she sounded when she was loud either. It was certainly something to ponder on the way into the RiteAid.

He watched her move his body through the store, jogging from one isle to the next while he crossed her arms over her torso, waiting at the register for him.

Rey found her favorite kinds of pads, a box of tissues, two bags of chocolate, a heating pad that they could plug in, plush socks that claimed to have healing power of aloe in them, an oversized sweatshirt that read the town’s name of Takodana Falls, and finally, a decorative pillow that was a blush pink with gold fringe and some sort of writing on one side which Ben figured he would get to read later. He watched her put down all of the items she found to shuffle around for Ben’s wallet which had him furious. He frowned terribly at the back of his head, while the woman at the check out smiled at her. Well, him, but she didn’t know Rey was dicking him over. What a scum bag move for her to… wait… he stopped thinking as she pulled a teal card from his wallet. Ben didn’t own a teal card. He had the gold card, the one with the blue box in the center, even a couple of different bank cards, but not that one.

He watched as she paid for the sixty seven dollars in all he could assume to be was crap they didn’t need when the woman, maybe a few years younger than them, complements her for being a good man. Ben rolls Rey’s eyes at that.

“You know, I only see one in a few hundred men come through here looking to do right by their lady. It’s a sign of a good man,” she batted her eyelashes at Ben’s form looking for any sort of attention to become hers. “Not being afraid to hold or buy pads is a big deal.”

Ben tries his best to listen in, watching this out of body experience take place. Rey moved him in such a way that suggested maybe she liked her. He was nearly ready to scream. After all this time, she wasn’t ever going to be his type. She didn’t touch him because, because she wasn’t interested… that’s why! Pain settled in her heart, the kind that morphed terribly on to her face, threatening his very being. He’d watched the way that she moved him close to her, whispering something into her ear, but as he moved away, something happened. The woman stared daggers into his broken heart making him wonder what the hell happened.

It doesn’t help that Rey manages to look back at his bewilderment just after the clerk does, smiling as she goes to bag. There’s something there in the way she lingers that makes him wonder what she said.

On the way out, Rey grabs all of the bags in Ben’s fists, and Ben can’t help but need to help. It’s strange being looked after, especially by the girl he’d been hiding his feelings from this whole time.

“Can I help?” he asked her.

“Nah, I got it. We’re almost there anyway,” she promised him.

Being denied made him nervous. What else would make him feel this way?

“Hey, um... what was that in there?” he asked noticing his pace picked up as they made it to the car when he asked.

She hasn’t looked his way or acknowledged his question making that jealousy pit at the bottom of his stomach grow.

Once in the car, Rey sighs like he would, answering him, “She would have opened her legs for you right there for doing the right thing... Too bad I’m you.”

“What?” Ben sinks into his chair reaching to start up the car again. “What did you say?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m taken, darlin’,” she answered.

Ben found that hard to understand, or at least his response played the part...”She stared me down like she was gonna kill me though...”

“Welcome to womanhood 101,” Rey folds Ben’s huge arms over her chest. “We’re not all smiles and sparkles. It’s why we don’t generally have a ton of friends like guys do. It’s a battlefield, baby... we’re all after something.” Rey turned her head to look out the window, running his hands through his hair yet again before adding, “You’re an attractive guy, I’m surprised you don’t get attention like that on the regular.”

Ben, not sure of what to say to that, drives them the rest of the way in silence, getting there with less than a minute to spare.

“It looks light tonight,” Rey informed Ben who still couldn’t quite get over the fact that she called him attractive.

Ben kept her eyes wide and locked on his person as he continued on about how the night not get anyone since that new thriller movie opened up tonight. A sudden shift in the seat made him focus on her choice of action.

It looked as though she was pinching a loaf trying to shimmy something out of the seat of her pants, which begged him to ask her if she was okay.

Rey, the only woman he’d known to enjoy a cuss out rather than to ask important questions shuddered when she spoke, asking, “H-How do you get it to stop reacting to my every move?”

“Get what to what?” he asked following her out of the car. Ben watched as she raked her fingers through his hair again and wondered if she just liked doing it. The thought made him smirk.

“Your dongle,” she said moving both of his hands in an obvious way over his crotch.

“Dongle?” Ben sounds the word out and can’t stop Rey’s spreading smile.

“You know what I mean!” Rey hissed, moving to press the culprit against the car.

“What are you thinking about?” He seemed too curious not to delve into this one. He’d let up only when she shot him a dirty look similar to the woman in the store. “Most times I just ignore it, unless...”

“Unless?”

“Unless I like what I see,” he bit down on her lower lip the way he would his own trying to stop all forward thinking. He hadn’t thought much of it but a tingle of sorts flushed through her body making him focus where it settled on her sex. Ben was dying. He’d been trying to come up with a way not to think about how good she would feel wrapped around his length... the way he’d take her... fuck her against anything, that her breathing slowed, trembling as he listened to his aroused self ask what he does to sate himself.

“And then what do you do?”

“Well, it depends on how desperate I am,” her voice was low and husky, just how he felt. Before she knew it, he’d made her round the car focused on getting to his pants. He inserted her hands at his waist and flicked open the button of his jeans, watching her need grow.

He could tell she knew what he was saying. Need had been written all over his face, but she swallowed hard and stopped him.

“We’re outside!” She made him hiss. It didn’t quite feel as threatening as she could be but he stopped all the same. “I-I’m not doing that to you. You’ve never wanted me like that and whatever is happening with you and I now, this,” she waves his hands around while she speaks, “this should not be the only reason I explore you.”

“What if I want you to?” he whispers, her eyes just barely shining in the neon lights.

“What?” Rey furrows Ben’s brow. He feels his cheeks burn and is thankful for the darkness cloaking them.

“What if I want you to?” he repeated. “You called me yours in the store... and what you said in the car... how is this different?”

“You don’t want me, Ben. You have that goading look in your eye. The one you use when you’re challenging me just to prove I’m wrong,” she answered sadly. “If you did, like really did... I don’t know... I just. I just don’t need you to make a fool out of me. Make he feel wanted even when I’m not.”

Rey’s jaw dropped but then Ben shut it, biting back his response. His forward thinking halted and the smartest thing he could say was, “Remember the beanie baby you used to have?”

Ben’s hands moved from shielding him to covering his face in exasperation.

“What about it?” she asked.

“When I used to, ya know, I used to think about how much it would hurt if I folded over like that, like the toy... like my thing... in half...” her face contorted into a disgusted frown. “If you really rather not touch me then maybe that’ll help. Imagine pain. Or... me since you hate me so much.”

“It’s not that, I don’t, Ben. I just wish the feeling was mutual. I don’t have much, my life is fucked up, you’ve only seen a glimpse of it, and here we are sharing a dream or something and you’re telling me I could if I wanted. It just seems like I’m gonna wake up empty. You’ll be gone and I’ll be wishing I still had you. Or maybe you’d let me in because I was more than just a girl with some parts you’d like to touch. I know I sound ...just ...great… but it’s where I am. I just I want to matter to you like... like you matter to me.”

“I matter to you?” she whispered.

“Were you not listening to anything I just said?”

“No I was...” Ben trailed rubbing her hips in pain. She made the sound of an injured animal and rested her body against the car looking for relief.

“What?” Rey asked. “What are you doing?”

“What is all this pressure in my lower back?” He groaned. “Why do I feel like I can’t stand?”

—-  
(Ben)

“Don’t worry Ben, I’ve got you,” Rey she says happening to sound amused. She gathers the bags they had, and hands them to Ben, who looks a little worse for ware. “Hold them so I can hold you,” she says bending to lift her friend in his arms.

Being carried is nice. It’s not just nice, it’s wonderful... in fact, being with Rey had been the only times in his life that he could still feel these things. She cared for him in a way that he didn’t really think he still deserved.

“I do, you know. Care about you. You’re more to me, Rey, than I let you in on,” he admitted letting his head rest against his chest. As weird as it had been and still was, he couldn’t escape the way he felt about Rey, and cuddling seemed like the right thing to do just then.

Rey stayed quiet, holding both Ben and their stuff as she shuffled through the doorway. He groaned again, this time worse so telling her he was going to die.

“You’re not going to die. Those are cramps,” she said calmly. Rey moved toward the office finding Poe at the desk.

“What happened?!” he exclaimed.

“Nothing. Period.” Poe gaped at Ben and Rey could only nuzzle in deeper finding both comfort there, as well as a place to complain in whispers about what she said.

“Oh, um,” Rey clarified. “She doesn’t feel good.”

Poe could only stare, that is until Ben sat her down on the desk, their things still in hand. Ben watched, her eyes half lidded as she held him close to her with one hand. That felt unbelievable. Rey’s body, now drained, cried through a dull ache. The only thing to stop it had been her touch, while his hands kneaded the tightness found everywhere.

Ben barely heard the conversation but somehow he’d gotten Poe to get out, giving her access to both the chair and plug by the wall. He’d been lifted from the desk and settled down in a way that proved she cared past how she originally told him. If they weren’t something, she wouldn’t do this. Not to him anyway. Hope bloomed desperately in his belly and when it filled him, he promised himself that he’d take care of her just as she’d taken care of him.

Rey took care of everything, including plugging in the heating pad, propping him up and coaching him on how the pillow can help, all the way up until she’d found the socks at the bottom of the bag.

She didn’t say a word, only reached out for her feet, one at a time, removing her shoes that he didn’t realize were even tight before replacing them with the new fluffy socks.

Ben never knew the effects of fluffy socks, being a guy and all, but fluffy socks might have made it to the top of the list of things he loved, besides Rey. Rey was his everything—but how could he tell her? She already didn’t believe him.

“This pain is something you go through every month?” he complains for her.

“Yeah, some months are just worse than others.”

“That’s normal?”

“Yes.”

“Why is it so bad?” he whines.

“I promise you don’t want me to go into it, Ben,” Rey tells him. “Do you want help putting in your pad? I mean it’s pretty much just a sticker, but if that thing moves, it’s over for my clothes.”

Not knowing what else to do, Ben allows her to take care of herself. “Shouldn’t we be in the bathroom or something?”

Rey snorts, “You’re not going to bleed like a stuck pig.” She situates a pad while Ben shimmies our of her pants. “The pain is honestly the hardest part, Ben. I promise you’ll survive.”

“That’s not reassuring at all, Rey.”

“Nothing about this is reassuring, Ben.” She sighed, adding, “What if this doesn’t change back? What if we’re stuck like this, forever?”

He answered honestly, “I don’t know. But for what it’s worth, you make a better me than I’ve made.”

“Ben, I,” Rey tried to speak.

“No listen. I haven’t been good to you and I’ve been distant with my family, and in one day you’ve changed so much. I’ve never seen my mom so happy. You’ve- you’ve been good to me, and me as you, and you’ve done it without question.”

Rey fixes to add the pad to her underwear, taking an even breath before releasing it at the same speed, only to help him with her pants and stop.

Ben watched her look up at him, his own eyes weighing what he’s told her, before closing in defeat. It was a defeat he’d felt so many times before. So many waisted nights ignoring his feelings, so many wasted days trying to work up the courage to speak up... all for this. All for now. 

“Rey I-I’ve wanted that chance, the one you so willingly give away to anyone that looks your way. I wanted that time to give you what you gave me, over and over again.”

“And what’s that, Ben?” she whispered. He’d heard his own questions offered up to the stars so many times before.

“I’ve wanted you to let me in,” he croaks, sounding absolutely awful being that it’s her voice instead of his. “I’ve wanted to give you everything because you’re worthwhile. You’re—“

He heard the sound she made but didn’t know what to think until she crashed his lips onto hers. He’d never quite enjoyed those Hallmark movies he’d get pulled into throughout much of his teen life, Ben rolled Rey’s eyes at the thought of his mother getting her way back then, but something could be said about them. They captured this feeling. They played off of the raw emotion of it all, he’d poured out his feelings to her and she –she wanted him. She wanted this. His admission was just as great as the things she’d picked up for him during his looming time of need.  
  
Kissing himself had been odd, that was for sure, but at least it was happening. If they did have to stay this way, at least they had each other, he thought, that is, until his hands found her sides. That took him by surprise. His hands did actually span her waist like he thought they might. His grip felt careful at first and then just right as she deepened her kiss. Ben had a nervousness fly through him though, one that had him just about ready to sit until she dropped his hands down around the curve of her behind. When she squeezed her... gods there had never been a time that he’d ever want to feel some dude’s junk grind up against him like he did now. Ben sighed into his mouth in a begging wanton way before stepping into his space. Ben guided his body back to the edge of the desk making Rey gasp in surprise.  
  
With just a look, Ben knew he could control this situation but wanted her to tell him it was okay, that she wanted this. Rey nodded his head willingly guiding her own form up on to Ben’s looking desperate as ever. He could give her this, a release, something to help ease her from the excitement building in his body. Ben, however, couldn’t quite feel her own spark, not yet, not until he settled her down onto his body dragging her folds against his member. It had been dull. Not remotely memorable, which he couldn’t exactly place. He’d tried again and again, and there had been nothing for him which made him tense with frustration. Was all the porn he watched fake? Did the women found there not find pleasure in this? Or was it just Rey?  
  
It couldn’t be, he thought. Why would she have slept with a toy if she couldn’t feel this?  
  
“Rey?” he whispered, trying yet again to grind against him.  
  
She could barely respond to him, gripping her harder against her to chase the feeling.  
  
“I -I,” she moaned.  
  
Ben being the one with his wits about him had maneuvered Rey’s hands down to his jeans to flick the button open and hastily pull down his zipper. He was sure that Rey coming in his pants would be a terrible problem. How would they explain - or even hide that? There was nothing to change into except for merchandise but even that had run two sizes too small for him.  
  
“Ben?” she whined in his deep voice.  
  
“Shh,” he hushed her, “I’ve got you,” he guided him out of his boxers gripping his length in her small hands he’d died for there. He’d given an even stroke, finding it difficult to hold him like this. He’d wanted to sit next to her to get a good hold on himself but but being perched like this would have to do. He found a rhythm he knew he liked, not daring to do much else than blow at the precum beading at the top of him or gather it in his hand and drag it down his shaft. There had been nights where he needed her to touch him, years of them, and tonight he’d give himself this.  
  
Rey held tight to her ass, squeezing it hard enough to leave marks, another thing he thought about and often, how pretty she would be with a reminder of where he’d been that he hadn’t noticed her other hand come up between her thighs. Ben’s grip on himself shuddered, nearly to the point of causing himself pain at the way that the side of his finger expertly stroked the seam on her jeans.  
  
“Ah,” he cried out, forgetting the pad in that moment. She was relighting his world with the slightest motion. “Please,” he gasped. 

Again and again, she’d pressed him the same way before Rey had enough. 

“I n-need,” she released the hold on her body gripping Ben’s dick to guide her hands on him once more, hissing as he went. 

Ben couldn’t help the thought of power coursing through him, but found he needed far more of this. He wanted to hear her, feel her between her legs. She shuttered at the thought.

“Tell me, baby,” he pushed her on. “Tell me how I make you feel.

“I. I. Fuck, Ben,” she whined. “It’s so good—more, I need...” Rey trails. 

Ben nearly had him there, when he feels her use his hands to tug her pants down, to move his hand down them. It all came as a surprise, his hand was there, then slipped down the front of her underwear too.

“But I-“ he heard himself eat her words.

“I want to hear you. Tell me how you feel,” she said, stroking her tight bundle of nerves.

“Fuck,” he moans, throwing her head back in ecstasy. 

“Hmmm,” she hums, “you haven’t felt anything yet,”Rey said, slipping not one but two of his thick fingers into her heat. 

Ben’s eyes crossed at the feel of her fullness. Fuck if this wasn’t the best thing he’d ever experienced. He found himself riding out a life altering orgasm before giving in to the woman of his dreams. 

Ben licked her lips, wetting them just enough to move comfortably, without gagging, down onto his length. Hearing her cry out and feeling the way she shivered cheered him on. Never in his life did he think he’d be doing this but gods, he’d been drunk on this feeling, ready to give her anything.

“Ben!” He yelled startling her enough to leave his body in a rush. 

“What? What’s the matter?” Rey pushed Ben off of her, not remotely hiding where she’d been off to. “I’m-I’m sorry if I...”

“You didn’t,” he promised, jumping up to finish into the waste bin at the end of the desk.

He watched her squirt everywhere but the bin, wondering why she still wouldn’t hold him. Of course curiosity gets the better of Ben and she answers, “it makes me nervous. I don’t want to hurt it...or you.”

“D-did you? Could you feel you when you were inside of you?”

“No. I couldn’t.”

“Then just follow the feeling I guess. I don’t think you’re gonna rip it off. Well not anymore anyway,” the both of them share a laugh about how he found himself that morning.

“Your mom may or may not think you have an OCD problem all of a sudden,” she informed him letting him help clean his spend with tissues found on the desk. 

“And why’s that?”

“I had to clean the bathroom every time I went,” she grimaced.

“Oh my gods, Rey,” he shook her head. “I thought you said you’ve seen a penis before. I thought that meant you knew how to use one.”

“N-no... I mean, I have my own, ya know. I mean you found it and all. But yours looked like a deflated balloon animal while I had to go.”

Ben could only shake her head, and shimmy a little as she pulled her snug pants back on. He had to admit, while this hadn’t been foreseen, it did help calm his muscles far better than the Advil, and kept his mind unsurprisingly stuck on needing to keep Rey in his life.

——-  
(Rey)

“If you feel comfortable enough to work, you’re welcome to. Otherwise, I’d just take it easy tonight,” she said looking to leave to find Poe.

It’s been over an hour and she hadn’t heard any kids moving around, no thumping music, not even the black lights were on yet... which was weird for eight o’clock. 

“Hey...” Poe nodded to Ben while on the phone. Once finished, he informed Ben of being off tonight. “Your mom called wanting specifics of the building and said not to open. That was her just now.”

“What?”

“Yeah man. Said everyone would be paid, there wouldn’t be a loss on funds tonight, and to expect her in... with a few friends. What did you say to her?”

“Just that she could help if she wanted. You know how nerdy she is about Star Wars.”

Poe rolled his eyes. 

“Of course she’s going to be nerdy, she acted in those films.”

“Yeah,” Ben lifted a hand to run through his hair. “Anyway, did she say what she was doing?” 

“She said to be ready. Whatever that means.”

Leia, Rey knew, was over the top. The woman only thought big and if she wanted them to be ready that usually meant they had to expect the unexpected.

“Why don’t we break down the arena? Just line what we have against the wall so she can get a good idea of the space?” Ben said. 

“You sound like you know where this is headed. Care to fill me in?” Poe asked, shrugging off his sweater. 

“I can’t be sure, but it sounds a lot like my childhood. If we clean the room, we may be rewarded.”

Poe rolled his eyes before going back down memory lane. The boys used to do enough together that he knew it was true. If they took care of things or did what he was supposed to, they rewarded him for it, but not like regular parents. No, Leia would be so proud, cleaning a few rooms would result in a day trip to an amusement park. Poe could only wonder what that meant fo them now. 

The arena had been cleaned up within the hour and Ben endured the time avoiding questions about his obvious hook up with Rey...which honestly wasn’t anyone’s business but her own. That is, until she came out. 

“What’s the matter?” Rey asked, Ben’s eyes searching his growing panic. 

“I’m wet and it won’t stop,” he panicked. He hadn’t meant to be so loud about it but his voice had always been known to carry when he was upset or worried or anything other than happy... 

“O-hooo! Nothings happening between you too? Eh, Solo?”

Rey swatted at him with his open arm as she always has, as herself. But Ben’s force had knocked the man into the wall. 

“Oh! Oh my gods Poe! I did not mean to do that,” Rey rushed from Ben’s mouth. “Are you okay?”

Poe brushes himself off looking at the pair oddly. “Yeah, man... uh.”

He listens to the two of them go on, trying to calm the other. 

“He listen, you can go home if you want—“ Poe interrupted.

“NO!” they both shouted turning back to Poe who shielded himself with his hands. 

“She-I can’t go home,” Ben spoke for Rey. He dumped everything he knew out into the open. Now someone else knew. Now she could talk about it... 

Poe covered his mouth while she and Ben spoke digesting more than he expected. “You know we can send an anonymous tip to the police department,” he offered, holding his phone in the other hand. 

“No! No! I have to be there—“ Ben shrieked seeing the number climb. 

“Ben, man, you don’t have to be there. It’s an anonymous call. Whoever’s in there—they’ll be safe. I mean, it’s the cops... it’s their job...”

“You don’t understand! It’s not just me-her! It’s, there are others there!”

“And that’s why we make the call,” Poe ends it just as Ben wipes his tearing eyes. “Man, it’s okay. That’s, I mean, shit Rey. I can’t believe you’d been living like that,” Poe moves forward to hug her. 

Ben widens Rey’s eyes, clearly not interested in hugging Poe. It was weird enough to hug himself, why would he want to hug Poe? It was Rey who was going through...this... it’s then when he finally leaned into it. If Rey went through this, then he did too. Poe wasn’t in the wrong for calling or for comforting him either. In fact, it felt... good to have support. 

Although she was battling enough trying to keep her emotions in check cloaked as Ben, Rey found the whole thing moving for a different reason. She’d never seen Ben accept anyone, not even her to a degree at least, and now he could... for her. 

“Rey,” she interrupted, “C’mon, let’s get you back and comfortable. It’s gonna be a long night.”

——

(Ben) 

Within the hour, he watched as his mother came through for them, just as Rey had asked. She brought her friends, artists and volunteers who showed up to help build a colossal movie scale set inspired by every episode. By the middle of the night they had built the undersides of multiple Star Destroyers with the plans to hit them with the black light illuminating them just so to make them feel like they were really there. A few other ships were still in creation out back while others had been far smaller and easier to set up faster. The depth they’d been able to create had been amazing, Rey commented on this more than once. 

His mother found his form several times an hour and each one she’d hugged him, wanting his thoughts and direction given this was his place of work. All the while, Ben watched this relationship grow. He’d wondered if he could have given her anything remotely close to what Rey had already been able to. 

He’d watched the two hug, pull away, and hug again once more, before she gripped her son’s hands, and moved to head towards the office.

“Rey?” Leila’s voice filled the office. “Honey? I just wanted to talk to you, if you’re okay.”

“I’m. Yeah, I’m okay,” Ben bit her lip and frowned at the same time. 

“Ben and I were talking, and we were hoping that you’d,” she clasped her hands together, ready to deliver her question, “honey, we were hoping you’d want to stay with us.”

There had been a shift in the air that made him frown. His focus trailed off to the aide, asking, about Rey’s sisters. Muffled sounds clouded his focus. It had been the most important thing he’d wanted for her, and he couldn’t hear it’s change. 

“Please,” he begged. “Please, so long as they’re okay.”

By the end of the night, not only their project had been finished, but their lives renewed. Rey’s sisters and Rose had been reunited with them, excited to explore but mostly to be part of a real family.

“This...” Rey frowned at the sound of her own voice as she spoke. “This doesn’t make me your sister does it?” she asked Ben who marveled at their success. 

Ben smiled happy for so many things including being himself again. He took no time to tell her, not this time, not when he had his second chance. 

“No Rey, it doesn’t. But it doesn’t mean we can’t be a family some day.”

He couldn’t have been more honest with her, swallowing his nerves and kissing her in front of the whole crew. She felt like a dream, and prayed she wasn’t. 

The following week Rebel Order has it’s big reveal. His mother who showed up, thanked everyone for all of the hard work they put into this project. They’d turned to her son, making sure everyone in the parking lot could hear them when she added, “And It couldn’t have happened without my amazing son who came to me in the first place, and future daughter in law, ” she said, grabbing Rey’s hand to show the generously sparkling band she had adorned on her finger, “who I love dearly!”

The crowd cheered at that, moving as a unit, in past them to enjoy the facility. It was absolutely outstanding, all of which had been done with unconditional love. 

“Thank you, for everything,” Ben whispered to his mother. 

“No son,” she shook her head offering the small red holicron back to Rey, who stood wrapped in one of his arms. “Thank you,” she winked.

Rey smiled when she’d seen the item fixed, wondering just how that happened, adding what it was that was so special to her about it. 

“Look closer,” she said, handing the item to Ben.

He couldn’t be sure but thought it whispered to him like it did in the shows until he found what he was looking for. Rey had drawn up her own design in the plates. Two hearts were there, one bigger than the other with there names written there. A smaller one overlapping that one with one simple word within it, “forever.”

“I love you,” he said, clear as day. 

“I know,” she smiled.

  



End file.
